Implement Washington ECEAP (Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program)

[hua7450]

Summary

Implements Washington's Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP), including both standard ECEAP (ages 3-5, RCW 43.216.505/512) and Birth to Three ECEAP (under age 3, RCW 43.216.578). Service eligibility only — ECEAP provides preschool slots, not a cash benefit. Analogous to federal Head Start.

Closes #8153

Regulatory Authority

• RCW 43.216.505 — standard ECEAP definition, age/income/categorical eligibility. Effective-date note: Sections 204-206 of 2021 c 199 take effect July 1, 2025; the 50% SMI threshold takes effect August 1, 2030.
• RCW 43.216.512 — expanded enrollment: 110-130% FPL allowed (no risk factor required) and 130-200% FPL allowed (risk factor required), expires 2030-08-01
• RCW 43.216.578 — Birth to Three ECEAP (separate statute): 130% FPL → 50% SMI on 2026-07-01; SNAP/Basic Food categorical
• WAC 110-425 — DCYF ECEAP rules
• DCYF 05-006 ECEAP Application, Section 9 — official list of countable income sources
• DCYF ECEAP/Head Start program page

Program Overview

ECEAP is Washington's state-funded preschool program administered by DCYF. It provides preschool slots plus wraparound family-support services. Standard ECEAP (RCW 43.216.505) and Birth to Three ECEAP (RCW 43.216.578) are governed by separate statutes with different rules and different transition dates. Per the Fair Start for Kids Act (2021 c 199), Sections 204-206 took effect July 1, 2025, replacing FPL-based thresholds with state median income for standard ECEAP; the threshold rises to 50% SMI on August 1, 2030. Birth to Three transitions on a different date (2026-07-01).

Income Eligibility (Standard ECEAP)

The standard pathway uses a single FPG-or-SMI rate gated by the standard uses_fpg toggle:

Effective date	Rate	Basis	Source
2021-07-25	130% FPL ceiling	FPL	RCW 43.216.512 (allowed enrollment, no risk factor required)
2025-07-01	36% SMI	SMI	RCW 43.216.505, 2021 c 199 §§ 204-206 effective date
2030-08-01	50% SMI	SMI	RCW 43.216.505

Why 130% FPL, not 110%: per RCW 43.216.505, families ≤ 110% FPL have priority enrollment; per RCW 43.216.512, families 110-130% FPL are allowed enrollment without a risk factor (space-available). PolicyEngine does not simulate space allocation, so both pathways are treated as eligible. The 130-200% FPL with-risk-factor band lives in wa_eceap_risk_factor_eligible. Documented in a code comment.

Risk-factor pathway (RCW 43.216.512): applies in the 130-200% FPL band (FPL era) or 36-50% SMI band (SMI era) for children with at least one modeled risk factor; expires 2030-08-01. The lower bound reuses the parent fpg_rate / smi_rate, since the risk-factor band starts where the standard pathway ends.

Birth to Three ECEAP (RCW 43.216.578)

Quoted directly from the statute: a child must be under 36 months old AND either (i) household income at or below the income threshold, OR (ii) eligible for / receiving SNAP or state FAP. No homelessness or IEP categorical pathway exists in RCW 43.216.578, unlike standard ECEAP.

Birth to Three has its own FPG↔SMI toggle (birth_to_three_eceap/uses_fpg.yaml):

Effective date	Rate	Basis	Source
2021-07-25	130% FPL	FPL	RCW 43.216.578(5)(a)(i)
2026-07-01	50% SMI	SMI	RCW 43.216.578(4)(a)(i) (post-2026 version)

The categorical SNAP path uses the existing is_snap_eligible (SPMUnit) projected to Person, inlined directly in wa_birth_to_three_eceap_eligible. State FAP (for SNAP-ineligible legal immigrants) is documented as not modeled — small edge case, no PolicyEngine variable available.

Age Eligibility (Standard ECEAP)

Per RCW 43.216.505(4) and WAC 110-425-0080, an ECEAP-eligible child is at least 3 by August 31 of the school year and not yet kindergarten-age, with mid-year carry-over for a child who turns 5 during enrollment. PolicyEngine evaluates age annually without an Aug-31 anchor, so we take the generous reading and treat ages 3-5 as eligible to capture the carry-over case. Documented in a code comment.

Family Income Definition (wa_eceap_family_income)

The income aggregator counts the sources DCYF lists in Form 05-006, Section 9 (page 6) of the official ECEAP application. The list is a unit: list parameter (income_sources.yaml), pulled in via parameter-driven adds:

adds = "gov.states.wa.dcyf.eceap.income_sources"

Source list (income_sources.yaml):

• market_income (covers W-2, self-employment, military pay)
• tanf_reported
• ssi_reported
• social_security
• child_support_received
• unemployment_compensation
• veterans_benefits
• workers_compensation

alimony_income is excluded — it is not listed in DCYF Form 05-006 Section 9. Tribal income, emergency assistance cash, regular insurance payments, training stipends, and scholarships listed in Section 9 have no PolicyEngine equivalent at the moment.

Categorical Eligibility (Standard ECEAP, wa_eceap_categorically_eligible)

Per RCW 43.216.505(4), only two categorical paths are modelable with existing inputs:

Criterion	Existing variable
Homelessness	is_homeless (Household)
IEP / special education	has_individualized_education_program (Person)

The other two statutory pathways — prior early-intervention services (Early Head Start / ESIT / class C developmental services / Birth-to-Three ECEAP / ECLIPSE) and Native-American + 100% SMI — are not modeled because we do not track those prior-program indicators or tribal enrollment at the moment. These categorical paths apply ONLY to standard ECEAP, not Birth to Three — RCW 43.216.578 has its own (different, narrower) categorical rules.

Risk Factors Modeled (Standard ECEAP only)

Modelable subset of RCW 43.216.512 risk factors using existing PolicyEngine inputs:

• is_non_english_speaking_home (Household)
• is_migratory_child (Person)
• has_developmental_delay (Person)
• has_individualized_education_program (Person)
• is_single_parent_household (Person, projected via person.spm_unit.any(...))

Not modeled (no input variables): domestic violence, incarcerated parent, teen parent, parent education level, substance abuse, premature/LBW birth, chronic health, deployed military, loss of caregiver, Indian Boarding School family history, per-person ELL status.

Variables Created

Variable	Entity	Purpose
wa_eceap_eligible	Person	Standard top-level: age AND (income OR categorical OR risk-factor)
wa_eceap_age_eligible	Person	Generous age 3-5 (statute is 3 by Aug 31, not yet K-age)
wa_eceap_income_eligible	Person	Standard income test (130% FPL → 36% SMI → 50% SMI)
wa_eceap_categorically_eligible	Person	Homeless OR IEP
wa_eceap_risk_factor_eligible	Person	130-200% FPL or 36-50% SMI band + ≥1 risk factor (expires 2030-08-01)
wa_eceap_family_income	SPMUnit	DCYF Form 05-006 Section 9 income aggregator (parameter-driven adds)
wa_birth_to_three_eceap_eligible	Person	BT3 top-level: age AND (income OR is_snap_eligible)
wa_birth_to_three_eceap_age_eligible	Person	Under age 3
wa_birth_to_three_eceap_income_eligible	Person	BT3 income test (130% FPL → 50% SMI on 2026-07-01)

All variables have defined_for = StateCode.WA and definition_period = YEAR. Following Washington convention, no is_ prefix; the wa_ state prefix is retained.

Parameter Structure

Parameters use a flat-by-rate convention (fpg_rate, smi_rate) with separate FPG↔SMI toggles for the two programs:

parameters/gov/states/wa/dcyf/eceap/
├── uses_fpg.yaml                          # standard toggle (2021-07-25: true → 2025-07-01: false)
├── income_sources.yaml                    # unit: list, parameter-driven adds for wa_eceap_family_income
├── age_range.yaml                         # 3-5 bracket (generous reading)
├── income/
│   ├── fpg_rate.yaml                      # 130% FPL ceiling
│   ├── smi_rate.yaml                      # 36% → 50% on 2030-08-01
│   └── risk_factor_pathway/
│       ├── in_effect.yaml                 # expires 2030-08-01
│       ├── fpg_rate.yaml                  # 200% FPL upper bound
│       └── smi_rate.yaml                  # 50% SMI upper bound (lower bound reuses parent)
└── birth_to_three_eceap/
    ├── uses_fpg.yaml                      # BT3 toggle (2021-07-25: true → 2026-07-01: false)
    ├── age_limit.yaml                     # 3
    └── income/
        ├── fpg_rate.yaml                  # 130% FPL
        └── smi_rate.yaml                  # 50% SMI (effective 2026-07-01)

The standard toggle and the risk-factor pathway share eceap.uses_fpg because they transition on the same date (2025-07-01). Birth to Three has its own toggle because RCW 43.216.578 transitions one year later (2026-07-01).

Existing Variables Reused

• age, is_homeless, has_individualized_education_program, is_snap_eligible
• is_migratory_child, is_non_english_speaking_home, has_developmental_delay, is_single_parent_household
• spm_unit_fpg, hhs_smi
• For income aggregator: market_income, tanf_reported, ssi_reported, social_security, child_support_received, unemployment_compensation, veterans_benefits, workers_compensation

Scope Excluded (documented reasons)

• Indian-child categorical/income path (RCW 43.216.505) — no tribal-membership variable in PolicyEngine
• Prior early-intervention participation (Early Head Start, ESIT, class C, Birth-to-Three ECEAP, ECLIPSE) — no per-program prior-participation indicators
• State Food Assistance Program (FAP) — Washington's program for SNAP-ineligible legal immigrants. No standalone variable in PolicyEngine; is_snap_eligible is used as the proxy.
• Risk factors without existing inputs (see Risk Factors Modeled section)
• 25% statewide cap on risk-factor pathway — supply-side enrollment constraint, not individual eligibility
• Priority points scoring — slot allocation, not eligibility
• Foster care / TANF as automatic categorical for standard ECEAP — per RCW 43.216.505(4) none of these are categorical pathways. Foster care MAY warrant separate review — see open question below.

Open Questions / Known Gaps

• Foster care categorical: worth verifying against the statute and considering whether to add is_in_foster_care / was_in_foster_care to wa_eceap_categorically_eligible in a follow-up.
• State FAP: a small population of SNAP-ineligible legal immigrants who would be BT3-eligible under RCW 43.216.578(5)(a)(ii) are missed because we model only federal SNAP eligibility.

Files Added/Updated

• policyengine_us/parameters/gov/states/wa/dcyf/eceap/ — 12 parameter YAMLs
• policyengine_us/variables/gov/states/wa/dcyf/eceap/ — 9 variable .py files
• policyengine_us/tests/policy/baseline/gov/states/wa/dcyf/eceap/ — 8 test YAMLs (98 test cases)
• policyengine_us/programs.yaml — ECEAP added as state implementation under federal Head Start entry, variable: wa_eceap_eligible
• changelog.d/wa-eceap.added.md

Test plan

• 98 unit + edge-case + integration tests pass
• make format clean
• CI passes

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 100.00%. Comparing base (20705b0) to head (60635cd).
⚠️ Report is 29 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@             Coverage Diff              @@
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+ Coverage   85.36%   100.00%   +14.63%     
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  Files           3         9        +6     
  Lines          41       134       +93     
  Branches        2         4        +2     
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+ Hits           35       134       +99     
+ Misses          6         0        -6     

Flag	Coverage Δ
unittests	100.00% <100.00%> (+14.63%)	⬆️

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